A pedestrian countdown was on, too.
Orange County driver and Redditor /u/NyanBluu shared shocking dashcam footage from this Tustin intersection from earlier in October (Oct 3, 2025) to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing a driver in a Toyota Matrix blowing an extremely late red light that had been on for at least 10 seconds at that point.
Check out the near miss that would’ve been catastrophic in the embedded video below, with the original Reddit thread linked here.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Irvine Boulevard and Yorba Street in Tustin (exact location on Google Maps linked here).
As the dashcam shows, OP is driving along Yorba St. towards the aforementioned intersection.
As he approaches the intersection, he’s had the green light well over 10 seconds at that point, evidenced by the crosswalk counter showing around 3-4 seconds left by the time they approach.
I measured the crosswalk length using Google Maps, and for a 50-foot crosswalk, designers typically provide a signal to cross and a countdown totaling around 14 seconds.
You’d think the intersection would be clear to cross, but not so as a driver in a blue Toyota Matrix approaches from the right and blows through that extremely red light.
Although OP didn’t emergency brake, thankfully, he timed it right to avoid getting t-boned, which, at that speed, would’ve been catastrophic for both parties.
“Yeah, could have been a different strand of the multiverse if you were 3 seconds earlier,” the top comment from /u/PsPs0 reads.
“Oh my god, I’m so glad you did whatever you did that day to be held up a few seconds because that could have been insane. Happy you were safe from it <3 people are such idiots,” /u/lovebudds added.
“Those few seconds really made a difference today! But I’ve been trying to check intersections nowadays due to things like this. Thank you!,” OP replied.
In Orange County (and generally in California), running a red light under Vehicle Code § 21453(a) is a one-point moving violation on your DMV record. After adding court fees and state surcharges, the total fine tends to be around $490 (from a base $100) in many jurisdictions.
